


Get a grip (on me)

by Menatiera



Series: Fuck you, Russos! [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Hugs, M/M, Multiverse, Multiverse Hopping, One-Shot, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Surprise hugs, Winteriron Week, but not a fix-it per say, interdimensional mix-up, this is an alternate ending of Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-24 01:46:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20018221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/pseuds/Menatiera
Summary: Portals were opening everywhere and people poured out of them. Tony had last seen those portals five years ago, but he still recognized them.This meant hope, this meant they weren’t alone in the battle, this meant…If Strange was back, then the others must be too, then Peter…***Tony just wants his kid back. He gets something else.Day 4 prompt: Surprise hugs for the Winteriron Week.





	Get a grip (on me)

**Author's Note:**

> A huge huge thank you for [Starla-Nell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess_Nell/pseuds/Starla-Nell) for betaing, because those suggestions made the fic not only grammatically correct but much better too. Thank you for making a first draft into an actual fic. Also huge thanks for Lokivsanubis for cheering and looking over the fic! :)
> 
> Aaand this time it's not a bingo fill, because I ran out of squares that could fit into this idea. Oops?  
> If you like this fic, please leave a comment and/or check out the rest of my writing! Also you can find me on tumblr and discord, I'm Menatiera on both places.

Portals were opening everywhere and people poured out of them. Tony had last seen those portals five years ago, but he still recognized them.

The wizard with a necklace, as the kid called him. Strange.

It must be him, he was back, and he was…

He was bringing an army to the battlefield. 

Of course he was. Tony probably should’ve been saddened that even more people will be dragged into this mess -  _ again _ \- but he couldn’t, he was grinning like a lunatic under the faceplate, because this meant hope, this meant they weren’t alone in the battle, this meant…

If Strange was back, then the others must be too, then Peter…

Fuck, his heart beat so fast it hurt in his chest. He had no one else other than Peter. The Avengers fell apart - they never had been a team, not really anyway. They were just a bunch of people united under a goal and every time the goal was achieved they went to their separate ways. Tony didn’t do enough to keep them together. (Maybe if he had been, they could stand a chance…) They had barely talked during this last five years, everyone consumed by their guilt and grief differently. Steve apologized for the events of the so called Civil War, Tony did too, and they both forgave to each other (at least they had said so), but then they didn’t stay in touch either. They moved on, or at least tried to.

Rhodey was great, but he was one of the remaining high-ranking military officers, and one of the remaining superheroes, and he got his old-new girlfriend Carol to keep him overwhelmingly busy. Pepper had Maria. While Tony was happy to be the biological father of their children and to spend weekends at their place, they had their own lives, too. He was alone, as he had been for most of his life.

Tony only had his adopted son, and he had lost Peter five years ago. He didn’t care about the Mad Titan anymore. Let Thor and Steve and whoever else was there keep that asshole on his toes, he needed to see— he needed to get his son back. His eyes jumped from one portal to the other. If everyone came back as they were gone, where they were gone, that meant that his son was alone with a bunch of idiots on an alien planet. Tony had left him alone on a half-dead planet. For five years, if that counted. He was probably the worst father.

Tony felt a hand on his shoulder. Steve was standing next to him. “They’re back,” the supersoldier murmured. Tony wasn’t sure if Steve meant to talk to someone else or just himself.

“Dad!” Peter’s voice, still higher than the adults’ shouts around him, cut through the air, and Tony’s helmet retreated back. Peter was here, Peter was—

Peter was parting from the crowd, running at full speed toward them. The grip tightened on the suit, Steve’s breath hitching, but Tony couldn’t care. He couldn’t move, too overwhelmed, too relieved.

Not when Peter was alive, and breathing, and talking already, and looking at them and—

And then the world shattered, because Peter, instead of Tony, leapt to Steve, hugging him with a sob. “Dad!”

Tony felt like he was moving in slow motion, like he was underwater. He turned, but the world didn’t turn with him, and his limbs were heavy and even blinking was hard.

“Tony!”

He heard someone calling him, but he couldn’t— he needed to see the wreckage of his life, and there it was, right in front of his eyes, Peter clinging to Steve and crying and already explaining how Strange woke him up. Steve’s expression was of utter shock and pure terror, but even that couldn’t offer any comfort at this moment. His kid… his kid… called Steve his dad? Instead of Tony? 

“Tony!” Someone was hugging him, tackling him just as vehemently as Peter had landed on Steve. Tony was roused from his thoughts enough to tear his eyes away from the unfolding scene.

Just to get another shock.

The owner of the arms wrapped tightly around him belonged to none other than Bucky Barnes.

Something was incredibly, terribly wrong with the world.

“Tony, doll, you alright?” Bucky asked, his focus zeroed in on him.

Tony’s eyes met Steve’s. Steve still seemed just as baffled and horrified as Tony felt. And that was only the easier part— Tony didn’t want to admit, not even to himself, the intense jealousy over that hug, seeing Peter’s arms wrapped around Steve the way they should cling to Tony.

Bucky’s embrace loosened, and he pulled back to look at Tony’s face. Tony had the pleasure of seeing his eyes widen in shock as well.

“You’re not  _ my  _ Tony,” Bucky stated. Tony shook his head.

Instead of letting go immediately, Bucky leaned in and pecked a quick but gentle kiss on Tony’s cheek, which just intensified Tony’s confusion. He never had imagined Barnes doing this, but for once it wasn’t a threatening closeness. Bucky was at ease, comfortable in his skin despite everything. “I’m sorry, Tony.” Barnes looked around. His eyes landed on Steve and Peter, and his brow furrowed. Peter was still talking. Tony used the opportunity to look at Bucky closely. He didn’t wear anything one would expect of an ex-Winter Soldier: Barnes was sporting a Captain America-style uniform, with more black in it, but absolutely identifiable. The white star in the chest, the stripes. (The way it made his shoulders look even more broader, and those thighs seemed hella good too. Tony was definitely too shocked if he noticed those things.) “Well, Pete is definitely the Peter I know, but you two aren’t,” Bucky assessed. “Where are we?”

The ground shook under their feet, and that was finally enough for Peter to realize the time and place wasn’t the best for a travelogue.

Doctor Strange rushed toward the battle next to them. “Whoever did the snap messed up the multiverse; people landed in wrong worlds; we’ll sort it out later,” he shortly explained, not even stopping. The next moment he was battling with Outriders already, his magic throwing them around like paper airplanes.

Steve squared his shoulders. Tony still saw the hurt in his eyes, similar to the one Tony felt - Tony didn’t get his son back, but Cap seemingly didn’t get his best friend back either - but he was Captain America and the world was on the line; he shoved it under a rug and proceeded with the mission. 

“You’re in a battle against Thanos,” Steve explained briefly.

“We’ll talk after we kicked the purple bastard’s ass,” Tony added.

Bucky, or whoever he was, just nodded, and after a clicking sound, the familiar red white and blue shield appeared on his arm. (Tony made a mental note to study that later because holy shit, he needed to take a look on that trick, right after the mission was over.) “Sounds like a plan.”

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Of course, in this universe Tony survives the battle, and afterwards he goes on an universe-hopping journey with Cap!Bucky to find his own Peter. Tony falls in love during the road trip, and after they snatch their Spiderkid back, they live happily ever after, probably in Bucky’s universe that lost its Tony, but that is a nicer place even with the various supervillains.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [5 times the multiverse sucked (and 1 time it made perfect sense)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20461967) by [kocuria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kocuria/pseuds/kocuria)




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